Out of curiosity, instead of having ads, why not just have a board sponsor donation kind of thing with some perks? I'm sure there'd be a few people out there who'd throw in $5 here and there to support TGG. The ads can easily be blocked anyway.
I like the new version much better. By the way, to the people complaining about ads, there are plenty of Firefox add-ons out there that block ads so you don't even see them.
Why was this even put to a vote? If Twitter put up a vote to keep the old version or the new we would've never kept the new one. Which by the way everyone hated at first, but when Twitter took down the new one for maintenance everyone was complaining about how much they missed it. I hope if it does end up going back it's just a color change and not the entire thing.
Well, I'd rather have a stable cash flow than rely on people to "throw in $5 here and there." Last time we had an x-mas donation drive, it generated less than what it costs to run this thing for one month. Also, I never intended this website to become a pay one, nor did I ever want to beg for money (some people see asking for donations as exactly that). So, ads are the way to go. As for ad blocking, I can certainly understand when it's done to prevent pop-up ads, as those are indeed quite annoying. What we have here is just 3 banners, 2 of which don't interfere with the layout in any way. The third ad, the one between the first two posts in a thread, takes up just about 100 pixels of vertical space. If that's something that bothers you so much, then sure you can block it, but keep in mind that by doing that you might be preventing future development of this website, giveaway contests, etc.
I'm sure alot of us don't have a problem with the ads anyway. Most of my time at least is spend reading posts and you can't see the ads past the second post anyway.
Which leads me to the question...do the ads know they're being blocked? I use the adblocker to prevent those noisy adverts and popups frequently encountered on other sites. I have would have no problem unblocking this site in particular due to its relatively innocuous ads. If the clicking on the ads is all that is hampered by the blockers, I take care of that when I turn off the ad-blocker to go on my sporadic clicking sprees (usually when reminded on gameday).
The ads used to open in a new windows, now they open in the same window/tab. Is that site controlled or not? EDIT- Just the ad after the first post, the top ad still opens in a new window/tab.
Petro, I totally understand that approach but a number of other sites have a pay option that removes ads. I'd happily pay something like a $15 per annum subscription fee to not have ads, I reckon you'd make more money as I'd be surprised if I generate that much per year in ad click revenue and I'm sure I'm not the only one, and if someone doesn't pay then their subscription lapses and the ads reappear for them. Also, have you got or considered hosting Amazon and HMV links? I shop on both a reasonable amount and would be happy to make my purchases via TGG, I believe that pays you a percentage on each purchase as well as clickthrough revenues.
i must say i am a little surprised that the poll is this close, i would have thought it would be overwhelmingly in favor of the old design. just being close is enough to say keep the new version, so i will concede victory to the new version even though i dont particularly care for it. i would like even more a change of the site logo, i never cared much for it. and i think it is a big part of the forum listings page looking clunky.
We had this issue at an old forum I was involved with. We ended up offering a forum sponsor fee to remove ads at $30 for 12 months. Also launched a merchandise section where we had a deal with a company that could put our logo on pretty much anything. Gave the users almost unlimited purchasing options. From shirt, bags, to Coffee mugs and license plates. Even allowed customization, many put their username on the back or shit like that. We had many people running the site though, about 4 people had access to the code and 3 people were in charge of the shop and making sure orders were completed. With Google adsense it's very dependent on unique visitors. I'd guess you're getting between $50-$100 per month though them. This site has over 4,000 members but who I haven't a clue on how many active members. Even if just 200 members sent in the $30 that is $6,000. Compared to the $600-$1200 from Google adsense.
I like the new version....its cleaner. And leave the ads....people who don't want to see them don't have to already, likes its been said, its only three of them, not a big deal...although I haven't seen them in a couple years >_> (adblock...not like I ever clicked through anyway, I know, I am a terrible person)
As I said, this was never intended to be a pay site and I am not going to turn it into one. As for Amazon, I used to have it here until people began complaining about the Amazon ad screwing up the forum on mobile devices. Revenue from Amazon was nothing compared to AdSense anyway. I'd have to turn this into a full-time job to do all that, which is not an option The vast majority of websites have ads - facebook, cnn, nytimes, etc. As I said before, I can understand when people complain about pop-up ads, excessive ads, but that is not the case here. The content begins at about the same distance from the top as before, despite having a larger header and more menus.
